Expert: Central Bank Reserves Declined By More Than 12% In Three Years
Economy | 05/16/2025 Mawazine News – Baghdad – Economic affairs expert, Manar Al-Obaidi, confirmed today, Friday, that the Central Bank of Iraq’s reserves witnessed a significant decline of more than 12% from the end of 2022 until March 2025.
Al-Obaidi said, in a statement received by Mawazine News, that “reserves declined by more than 20 trillion Iraqi dinars in a period of only 15 months, at a rate of 1.3 trillion dinars per month, equivalent to one billion dollars.”
He added, “This decline cannot be read in isolation from the continuous rise in the import bill, which has begun to drain the state’s hard currency resources on a daily basis.”
Al-Obaidi pointed out that “this decline is due to Iraq’s almost total dependence on foreign exchange to meet its consumer and production needs, in light of the absence of efficient local alternatives, the weakness of the industrial and agricultural sectors, and the continued operation of the currency window mechanism in its current form.” https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=261491
Gold Is Heading For Its Biggest Weekly Decline In 6 Months
Money and Business Economy News – Follow-up Gold prices fell in early trading on Friday, heading for their biggest weekly decline in six months, as a stronger dollar and easing trade war concerns reduced its safe-haven appeal.
Spot gold fell 0.1 percent to $3,235.59 per ounce by 0027 GMT. Gold has fallen more than 2 percent so far this week and is on track for its worst weekly performance since November.
US gold futures rose 0.4 percent to $3,239.20.
The dollar has risen 0.4 percent so far this week and is on track for its fourth consecutive weekly gain. A stronger dollar makes dollar-priced gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The United States and China agreed earlier this week to temporarily reduce massive mutual tariffs, calming a trade war that had raised fears of a global recession.
As for other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.2 percent to $32.61 per ounce, platinum rose 0.3 percent to $992.55, and palladium fell 0.7 percent to $961.50. https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=55516
For The Second Week, Oil Prices Achieve Gains In Global Markets.
Economy | 05/16/2025 Mawazine News – Follow-up: Oil prices stabilized on Friday, but were on track for a second consecutive week of gains, supported by optimism over trade developments between the United States and China.
Brent crude futures fell one cent to $64.52 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose two cents to $61.64. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=261490
Iraq has begun implementing a project to digitally preserve its historical heritage.
May 16, 2025 Erbil – Amjad Nasser The Prime Minister’s advisor for artificial intelligence, Diaa Al-Jumaili, confirmed that Iraq has begun implementing distinctive projects using modern technology, such as the project to digitally preserve historical heritage using digital scanning and 3D printing techniques.
This is used to preserve shrines, manuscripts, and historical buildings, enabling their recovery in the event of their loss due to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.
Sustainable Development
He added to Al-Zaman during the eighth international scientific conference of the Union of Arab Statisticians, held in cooperation with Tishk University in Erbil, under the theme (The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Effective Statistics to Achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), that “an Iraqi team used 3D printing to redesign an old turbine that generates electricity in the Haditha Dam, which reflects the use of artificial intelligence in preserving infrastructure.
In addition to cultural heritage, old books are being converted into digital copies that can be read and analyzed, in a step towards digital documentation of historical and intellectual content.
This also confirms that every revolution has brought about a change in the type of skills required, but it did not eliminate job opportunities, but rather changed their nature.
For example, the First Industrial Revolution, which was associated with the steam engine, raised concerns among those whose professions depended on horses, but it created new jobs in fields such as coal mining and iron smelting.
This analogy justifies present-day fears of artificial intelligence, but calls for understanding it as a tool for positive change for those with the appropriate skills.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, unlike its predecessors, will activate new roles based on talent.” Philosophy and cognitive depth, and an example of this is the well-known Iraqi doctor (Alaa Bashir), who combined medicine and art (being a sculptor and painter), which made him a model for the multiplicity of skills required by this stage).
Cultural Heritage
He also pointed out that (unfortunately, some Arab societies, especially the poor ones, do not deal with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and this is due to the lack of training and weak qualification in the fields of modern technology, while Iraq has greatly excelled in this field, especially after the decision of Prime Minister Eng. Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, to introduce artificial intelligence and use it in ministries and institutions.
My role as a volunteer consultant for artificial intelligence and education in Iraq, I do not receive a salary, but I sometimes spend from my own money because I find great pleasure and benefit in it, expressing my belief that Iraq has a huge cultural and artistic heritage that the West can learn about,
and Iraq, after consuming Western content, needs to highlight its own content of texts, plays and arts, because Iraq excels in visual arts compared to many countries in the world, which is an indication of the depth and richness of the local creative environment).
He also stressed the importance of respecting linguistic and cultural diversity in Iraq, and the need to involve children in learning different languages from an early age. The Kurdish language contains about 200,000 words, while the Arabic language contains about 12.5 million.
This is a rich cultural resource that should not create division, but rather cultural integration. We see this cultural diversity in Iraqi events, such as weddings that include Kurds and Arabs from different regions.
This diversity is considered a source of generative artificial intelligence, because it nourishes creativity and innovation through different references and backgrounds. LINK
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